


keep a window for me open, open for me always

by volchitsae



Series: and i press you to the pages of my heart [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: ASMR, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M, YouTube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:54:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24316126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volchitsae/pseuds/volchitsae
Summary: He’s embarrassed to find that he’s actually expecting a text or a call from Atsumu; he thought he was forward enough with putting the number on the coffee cup and reminding Atsumu to call him. He doesn’t see Atsumu for the next day or two and shrugs the rejection off, until Atsumu starts showing up.And he keeps showing up. He sees Atsumu multiple times a week, sometimes bright and early while Sakusa’s on his morning shift, or grabbing a snack after volleyball practice, or settling in to study when he’s on his closing shifts and Sakusa can join him on his breaks. Atsumu brings awful pick-up lines and an even brighter smile with every pun.-Sakusa is a barista by day and an ASMR and study YouTuber by night. When he meets Atsumu, these two facts about him come together in a way he doesn't expect.Sakusa's point of view ofi keep a window for you, it's always open.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: and i press you to the pages of my heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756297
Comments: 28
Kudos: 743





	keep a window for me open, open for me always

It’s 5am when Sakusa lets himself in to the Starbucks, a few weeks into his employment here and into the new school year. Yachi and Shimizu are already there, preparing the various roasts before the morning rush starts. Akaashi and Suna should get here in the next 45 minutes.

“G’morning,” he greets through a yawn. He’s not a morning person; he made sure not to take too many 8am classes, but once he decided to apply for a barista job that just means he gives his mornings to the green goddess of coffee. Sakusa had been hired after the interview and his boss grilled him on basic accounting principles.

“We need an accountant other than me around here, anyway, I’m getting too old,” she’d said when they shook hands and signed the contract. He’s been grateful that she’d taken him in under her wing; he’s learned a lot.

His crew are scarily efficient, and he finds himself lucky that he works with them on most of his shifts; his boss takes to scheduling them in blocks because she’s happy that they work so well together. It helps that they’re all fairly serious people to soothe irate customers over the drive thru with Yachi as the bright sunflower that can make anyone coming into the store leave with a smile.

“Hi, Sakusa-kun!” Yachi waves at him from the espresso machine. Shimizu holds up a peace sign, on the phone with their shipment company. Sakusa doesn’t want to know – he doesn’t have nearly half the patience that Shimizu has for the phone calls and bureaucracy that both she and their boss can handle.

Sakusa’s hands switch onto autopilot when he joins the girls in to help prepare for the day. He’s thinking about what he should upload onto the _endomiphins_ YouTube channel this weekend other than his pomodoro videos and livestreams.

Yachi had gotten him to start the channel. They took their breaks together sometimes, and he had complimented her bullet journal while she coloured in squares that represented her shifts. Sakusa had one of his notebooks open in front of him in an attempt to review a unit before the test in class later that day.

“Your notes are really nice too, Sakusa-kun. I feel pretty productive watching you study! Have you thought of maybe starting a study Instagram or something?”

Sakusa shakes his head. “I don’t like arranging things for the photo. I feel like I would get too caught up in making it look nice instead of actually studying.” Yachi laughs, marker tipping to one side.

“That’s fair. I find that making my journal look nice gives me a sense of satisfaction, and I can also use it to try out some design ideas. I have to put in a lot of effort, though, to get it to look like this; you’re nearly effortless at it, Sakusa-kun.”

Sakusa gives Yachi a small smile at the compliment. She taps her marker against her chin, then raises it in the air when she seems to have an idea.

“Have you watched study with me YouTube videos before?”

“No, I usually just listen to music. I feel like I’d get too distracted with the video.”

“I like them! It’s just people with the camera focused on them while they study at home or at the library.” Yachi pulls out her phone and shows Sakusa an example; it’s a girl in glasses with headphones on writing on a notepad with ambient sounds of the library.

“I don’t know if I want to get YouTube famous, Yachi,” he chuckles.

She waves her hands, the phone clunking onto the tabletop. “Oh no, no pressure of course! Maybe it’s just me that feels more focused when we’re working together. If you don’t like the YouTube thing, that just means I get to keep that motivation you give me to myself!” Sakusa huffs with a grin.

“You give me too much credit.”

“Hitoka-chan, Kiyoomi-kun,” Shimizu calls. “Could I have some help up here?”

“Oh! Sure!” Yachi sweeps her markers into her cat pencil case and Sakusa flips his notebook closed to get back to work. The YouTube idea sticks in the back of his head for the rest of the shift.

It’s not like he necessarily needs the money now that he’s working, but he’s been looking for another hobby outside of video games. He takes out his webcam and external microphone from the drawer of his desktop, brow wrinkling as he dusts them off and sets them up.

Sakusa decides on not showing his face and not speaking. It makes him too nervous and he doesn’t want that kind of privacy invasion. He angles the camera to show his torso and hands at his desk, headphones and timer on, and starts his first video using the 25-5 pomodoro method that helps him get into the right zone for studying.

He edits a timer onto the video and captions but realizes he doesn’t want to use his real name, so he googles a username generator and tries various portions of his name for something that’ll stick. He settles for _Kiyjax_ as his persona and _endomiphins_ as the username. It’s kind of cute and he likes the association with endorphins. Thank you to his high school self for learning how to use video editing programs.

With work, his accounting degree, and the YouTube channel where he can get creative – he films the meals he makes for the weeks, or how he makes coffees that are bad choices at 7pm, and how Suna and Akaashi make him try horrendous new ramen flavours – Sakusa thinks he’s finally getting the hang of this university life thing a couple of years in.

When he meets Atsumu, he feels this way even more so.

Now, he’s not immune to attractive customers or staff. He works with arguably some of the prettiest people on campus – there’s plenty of customers who try to flirt with every one of them, and he’s almost suspicious of his boss putting them together to get higher foot traffic or something. High cheekbones, cute noses, cuter smiles, the people he works with have it all and then some. Yachi’s got thin prairie flower tattoos trailing up the back of both arms that match her halo of hair, Shimizu has a watercolour style tattoo of a peony between her shoulder blades that peeks out when her hair is up, and he, Suna, and Akaashi have enough piercings between them to make a regular person wince in pain. Suna has stick and poke tattoos dotting his arms and shins as well.

The curse of polite customer service means that they just have to bear the brunt of the attention. They’re just trying to serve coffee, and as much as he sees the fun and appeal of coffee shop meet-cutes, they have a job to do. Sakusa can’t really count the total amount of times any one of them have been asked out; none of them have taken anyone up on their offer as far as he knows. They had talked about it, of course.

“Not a fan,” Suna says, putting his head down onto the counter on top of his folded arms to take a catnap after the morning rush passes.

“I usually have around five different orders in my brain and an espresso shot every morning,” says Akaashi, leaning against the counter. “It’s hard enough just trying to hear their order and punch it in.” Sakusa chuckles.

“I think everyone sees me as a younger sister or something like that,” Yachi sighs. “I have to agree with Akaashi-san, though, I’ve got too much on my mind to even think of something witty to say back because I’m not interested. I think that’s why I just laugh it off.”

Shimizu and Sakusa have the same response befitting of their manager positions; they shrug. 

“Kiyo-squared,” says Akaashi, and everyone laughs.

“We’re serving coffee,” she says, and he says, “We’ve got plenty better to do.”

So when Sakusa actually responds to Atsumu’s flirting, they all obviously take the piss.

Yachi’s just taken the drive thru headset from him; they’re all in rush mode, and he tries his best to hook his mask back over his face quickly with one hand, fingers tangled in the elastic.

“Good morning, apologies for the wait,” he says, and blinks rapidly at the student in front of him. He’s handsome, a relaxed smile tilting the corners of his mouth up, fluffy blond hair falling messily around a black undercut. It contrasts well against his tan skin and honey brown eyes. He and the group he’s with – is that his grey-haired twin? – all look pretty built, wide shoulders nearly hiding the customers behind them.

Sakusa snaps himself out of it. There’s work to do.

“What can I get for you today?”

Handsome blond takes a look at the pastry display Sakusa and Akaashi set up earlier. The tips of Sakusa’s fingers sting a little from grasping the warm oven trays.

“Do those have raisins?”

Sakusa looks over at the scones. “No, just cranberries, is there an allergy –“

“Then how about a date?”

Sakusa can feel himself freeze up as he always does with flirting customers. This is the first time a pastry has been used in a coffee pun, so he’s impressed. Only a little bit.

Normally he’d just proceed with the order completely nonplussed; his brain says, _So a cranberry orange scone, would you like something to drink,_ but his mouth blurts out, “I’m more of a cashew kind of guy, actually.”

He can feel the air around him stop moving. Everyone on shift pauses just for half a second at the same time, because Sakusa’s just _flirted back_.

“Oh, a little nuts,” says handsome blond. “I’m into that.” Sakusa can’t help himself and barks out a laugh.

Their exchange is interrupted by the blond’s twin clapping him on the shoulder.

“I’m Miya Osamu, this is Atsumu, please give him your number if you’d like, but maybe not considerin' he’s hitting on you at 7:30am. Also because he’s made me and you suffer through this, I want a venti caramel macchiato frappucino with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Thanks, ‘Tsumu,” Osamu says, and he saunters off. Sakusa’s fingers automatically punch in the order format while Atsumu splutters.

The tall black and grey-haired man says, “A tall hot chocolate for me please,” and the shorter redhead chimes in with “A grande vanilla bean frappucino for me please, thank you Atsumu-san!”

“Oi, I didn’t volunteer for any of this!” Sakusa likes the lilt of his voice. The accent’s cute, and he’s entertained by everyone picking on Atsumu to really stop it.

“I’m Sakusa,” he says. “What would you like, Atsumu?”

“Uh, a tall blonde roast, please. You’re welcome, assholes,” he hisses. “Cover for me next time.”

Sakusa is writing their orders onto cups for Suna to take from him. “Didn’t think you’d want to _pay_ for someone to diss your own hairstyle,” Sakusa says, and Suna has to turn away to hide his snort.

Atsumu’s group make a simultaneous _Ooooh,_ and there are some airhorn noises that are too loud for 7:30am.

“Wow, Omi-kun,” Atsumu scoffs, one hand on his chest. Sakusa isn’t sure if he’s endeared or irritated by the nickname. “Our friendship has been terminated.”

He opts for fake irritation. “It’s Sakusa. I don’t think it even began in the first place.” He scribbles his phone number quickly onto the side of Atsumu’s cup, hoping no one can see, and hands it over quickly before turning to get the other drinks.

He catches Atsumu pointing at him and winking, cup with number held aloft in the air. He feels his ears and the back of his neck heat up. So much for trying to be discreet about it. Then he laughs at Osamu manhandling Atsumu out of the store.

“If I gave you my phone number, I think you’re supposed to call _me_ ,” he calls as they leave, and can hear the coffin lid closing on him to be teased by everyone.

“What was _that_ , Sakusa-kun?” Akaashi’s eyes are crinkled up in mirth, and Sakusa shuts his eyes against the two suns of Suna and Yachi grinning at him.

“I don’t know, don’t ask me, I was possessed, I regret everything,” he grumbles, and huffs out a laugh with the rest of them giggling and shakes his head.

“Possessed with horniness, I bet,” Suna says, eyebrows raised.

“I give my approval, ” Shimizu says, and they mock gasp. “He seems like he’s the right amount of ludicrous for you, Kiyoomi-kun.”

“ _You’re_ ludicrous.”

“And who was the one who gave him his number, Kiyoomi-kun?” Sakusa groans.

“Alright, he’s plenty embarrassed,” Akaashi says. “I saw you looking at the twin, Suna.”

“Wow, okay, and everyone saw _you_ making eyes at the two-toned one. How are they all that _buff_?”

“He’s got pretty gold eyes.”

“Just his eyes, huh? You know what this means?”

“What?”

Sakusa raises an eyebrow when they turn to him.

“Sakusa, you need to get into Atsumu’s pants, so it’ll be easier for us to get to know Osamu and gold-eyed boy,” Suna says.

“I can’t believe I thought you were the quiet one,” Sakusa says.

“I am, you guys are lucky enough that I like you enough to even speak out loud.”

“Good luck, Sakusa-kun!” Yachi raises her fist, and Sakusa fist bumps her.

“We’ll have to see if he actually calls.”

He’s embarrassed to find that he’s actually expecting a text or a call from Atsumu; he thought he was forward enough with putting the number on the coffee cup and reminding Atsumu to call _him_. He doesn’t see Atsumu for the next day or two and shrugs the rejection off, until Atsumu starts showing up.

And he keeps showing up. He sees Atsumu multiple times a week, sometimes bright and early while Sakusa’s on his morning shift, or grabbing a snack after volleyball practice, or settling in to study when he’s on his closing shifts and Sakusa can join him on his breaks. Atsumu brings awful pick-up lines and an even brighter smile with every pun.

Atsumu says that he wants to spend time with Sakusa, and he _does_. The way he puts in the effort at making time for whatever is currently developing between them makes it easy, so easy, for Sakusa to let himself fall a little in love.

* * *

“Hold on,” Atsumu says, looking at his mug he’s got balanced on a textbook in concern. Sakusa stops.

“What is it?”

“It’s cold,” Atsumu whines, and Sakusa’s customer service instinct kicks in to reach for the mug. “Can you hold it for me? ‘Cause you’re so _hot_?”

Sakusa’s hand stops in midair and he glares at Atsumu, who’s shaking the cup with his laughter. He takes a sip and he jerks back in pain.

“I burned my tongue, Omi-Omi, I think I need mouth-to-mouth.”

“I thought it was cold, but now it’s hot? That’s also not how CPR works at all.”

“I’m tryin’, Omi-kun, give me another _shot_ ,” Atsumu says, and he can hear Yachi hide a laugh behind her hand.

“No, you really don’t need one, you’ll just get worse from here.”

“I love the way you _espresso_ your love for me,” Atsumu sighs, and Suna actually throws a washcloth at him from over the counter.

Throughout their routine they settle into, he realizes he _still_ doesn’t have Atsumu’s number. He decides not to bring it up because in terms of the flirting thing – he took the initiative with the coffee cup. It’s Atsumu’s turn.

“You’ve given the store great business, that’s for sure,” Sakusa says, on a chilly afternoon.

“Tell your boss I said thanks for hiring such eye candy.” Atsumu pauses. “I couldn’t think of a coffee related thing. Hold on, gimme a sec.”

Sakusa busies himself with Atsumu’s earl grey latte.

“Got it,” Atsumu says, and the beep of his card against the machine chimes like a lightbulb going off over his head. Sakusa raises his eyebrows while sealing the lid over Atsumu’s cup.

“Tell your boss I said thanks for hiring such a _hot_ - _tea_ ,” Atsumu says, teeth flashing as he takes a sip.

Akaashi is nearby and shakes his head.

“Oi,” Atsumu points. “Bokkun told me that one, I’ll tell him you thought it was bad.”

“Sorry to you and Bokuto-san, then,” Akaashi replies breezily before heading to the other register.

Atsumu sighs. “I don’t know what Bokkun sees in him.”

“Akaashi’s said the same to me about you.”

“Rude.”

“I’m on break in twenty,” Sakusa says. “You’ll be around?”

Atsumu holds up his laptop. “See ya soon, Omi-Omi.”

Atsumu’s always bringing him stuff Osamu’s made in his culinary classes, and Sakusa eats it all out of spite because Suna pesters him about saving him something for him to try. The rice balls are his favourite.

He likes either studying or playing Breath of the Wild to get his mind off everything with Atsumu nearby. Atsumu asks him questions about his choice of accounting as a career, talks about becoming a lawyer, talks about volleyball, about Bokkun and Shouyou-kun, about how proud he is of Osamu and the family onigiri business.

“He’s still somehow buffer than I am,” he grumbles. “I don’t get it, ’m the athlete.”

“It’s those rice bags.”

“Like how ya get those guns with the boxes of coffee, huh?” Atsumu pokes Sakusa’s bicep and Sakusa elbows him back.

He also asks questions about the game and humors Sakusa’s enthusiasm about it, which is a point in Sakusa’s book that gets added on and then taken away every time Atsumu does something annoying.

Case in point: Atsumu rushes in on one quiet evening near the end of Sakusa’s shift.

“Omi-kun,” he says, out of breath, the bell on the door jangling. Sakusa stops mopping the floor.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Atsumu waves off his concern. “Is your drive-thru still open?”

“Yes?” Sakusa replies, the inflection in his voice making it sound like a question. It is one, because Atsumu’s on foot and he doesn’t see any cars nearby. “Why?”

“’Kay, thanks,” Atsumu says. Then he leaves as quickly as he came in. Sakusa watches him go, frozen in confusion. Should he follow Atsumu? What is he doing?

“Sakusa-kun,” Yachi calls, and her voice is trembling because she's trying not to laugh. She waves him over to the televisions that display the security cameras in the drive thru.

Atsumu is pushing Osamu in a shopping cart, riding on the back of it as they roll up to the drive thru speaker. Bokuto is pushing Hinata in second shopping cart with the both of them discussing the menu and Sakusa recognizes the carts as the ones he shoved to the corner of the parking lot when he started his evening shift. They came from the grocery store a few blocks away and he isn’t sure how they ended up there. He was planning to push them back to the carrel at the grocery store after his shift, but maybe he could convince these idiots to for him.

Yachi takes the headset off and wipes it down before extending it to Sakusa. “He’s specifically asking to speak to you,” she says, and Sakusa sighs and puts it on.

“Omi-kun!” Atsumu chirps, before Sakusa can say anything.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to take orders because shopping carts don’t count as automobiles.”

“They definitely can if we try hard enough,” says Osamu.

“What do you mean by that? Don’t modify those carts, return them to the store.”

“No, we meant like we can hit 50 kilometers per hour if we try hard enough!” Bokuto moves the cart so the carts are side by side in the drive thru.

“Bokkun, we’re each _one_ vehicle, please get behind me,” says Atsumu.

“I’m light enough, Omi-san,” Hinata says, and Sakusa can feel a headache coming on.

“No to all of that. Do you guys actually want anything?”

“Snacks!”

“Your sanity.”

“A _triple_ espresso shot.”

“Bokuto-san, that’s really not a good idea. Now a chocolate croissant is a good idea.”

Sakusa sighs. “There’s half price baked goods because we’re trying to clear the last of them before the end of the night. I’ll get you one each, come to the front window.”

They all chime an affirmative, and Sakusa charges them for four pastries and sweeps another two scones and a cookie into the paper bag that would’ve gone into the trash.

Atsumu has stepped off the shopping cart to lean on the little window ledge. Sakusa scowls as he opens the window.

“R- _Omi_ -o, on credit, please.” Sakusa dangles the card machine and hands over the overflowing bag of pastries.

“Can you guys please return those carts to the grocery mart down the street?” They nod when picking through their bag of goodies.

“We’ll finish these and then race there,” Atsumu says, muffled because of a scone, and Sakusa firmly shuts the window to prevent himself from hearing the rest.

* * *

Finishing midterms makes him feel sluggish and craving to do something mindless. The worst thing about midterms, Sakusa thinks, is how you have to jump straight into preparing for finals.

He can spare an hour and a half to play his neglected copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the very least. He wonders how his islanders and how his town has been doing; there must be a lot of weed and flower overgrowth he should take care of. He glances up at his desktop computer screen and decides that he’ll film and edit a video of him playing Animal Crossing. His video uploads have taken a hit in creativity, the exams sapping most of Sakusa’s energy so all that’s left is enough to do some rough pomodoro videos and streams.

“Sorry, Isabelle,” he murmurs, at the start-up screen. Sakusa makes his little Link character dash around the island and tour it and the islanders before he goes off to de-weed and tidy up the island, followed by some crafting and island hopping for some iron ore.

He sets the upload date for “Kiyjax Plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons #1” on the weekend, which is when he’s usually posting the non-study content.

The first inkling he gets of something Atsumu isn’t telling him is when Atsumu shows up on the following Monday humming the 5pm hourly theme absentmindedly as he decides what to order. Sakusa taps in the order at the register deliberately slowly just to make sure he’s hearing right – yes, he’s really singing the hourly theme, with its swinging melody that comes straight out of a funky R&B influence. Atsumu’s never brought up Animal Crossing before even when he knows Sakusa owns a Switch. Considering the colossal amount of anticipation for the game when it released, it makes Sakusa wonder where exactly the interest comes from.

Does he play? Would Atsumu want to play with him? Wait, does he even have a Switch?

“Is that Animal Crossing music you’re humming right now?” Sakusa blurts out, before he loses his nerve.

Atsumu swears as he hits the wrong button on the machine and Sakusa gets an error.

“Sorry,” they say at the same time. Sakusa gestures for Atsumu to try again.

“Uh, yeah. I was watching a YouTube video of someone play and I fell asleep to it? I don’t play, so I dunno what part of the game it’s from exactly,” Atsumu says.

 _I just uploaded an Animal Crossing video,_ Sakusa thinks. _Then again, everyone’s been playing it and making videos, so it must be a coincidence._

Sakusa sets the cup down and Shimizu takes it to pour coffee and gives it back to Sakusa, who doodles Timmy and Tommy Nook on it when there’s no one else behind Atsumu in line.

“5pm is one of my favourites of the hourly music,” he says. “I didn’t think Animal Crossing would get R&B sexy, but I’m not complaining.” He smiles when Atsumu hums the section of melody again and widens his eyes at Sakusa.

“It _does_ have that kind of beat, huh? ‘Kay, next time I’m gonna come in and hum a different one and you gotta guess, Omi-kun.” 

Sakusa finishes the doodle and passes the cup over, capping the marker. “Looking forward to it. See you later.”

As is the Atsumu way, he really does come in and tests Sakusa’s knowledge with both hourly music and K.K. Slider music. Sakusa is slightly embarrassed at the effort he puts into getting more K.K. Slider tracks to play in game so he can remember what they are.

* * *

After one of his breaks that he spends with Atsumu, his boss is on the premises double checking his work on scheduling people and figuring out their paychecks.

“Kiyoomi-kun, are the numbers correct on the amount of pastries you’re selling?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replies, as he’s wiping down the counters at the end of the night.

“It looks like we’re running out a good amount of time before the store closes. We could increase the stock, but I was thinking of selling something new. If you have any ideas, would you let me know?”

Sakusa can almost taste the salmon roe rice on his tongue. “I have just the person for you.”

When Atsumu and Osamu arrive for their meeting with Sakusa and his boss, Sakusa is amused at exactly how much effort Osamu’s put in to leave a good impression. They both cut fine figures, Osamu in a black button up with the sleeves rolled up and black slacks presenting his box of painstakingly chosen rice balls and Atsumu in a navy suit from having to dress up for a mock trial in class. Sakusa’s on shift, so it’s his usual black polo, slacks, and bright green apron and cap. He can see Suna hovering near the end of the counter and presumes it’s to keep Osamu in sight.

He tries his best to listen to Osamu when he’s explaining the nine flavours he’s picked out to showcase, but he gets incredibly distracted by the triangle of tan skin open at Atsumu’s white dress shirt unbuttoned at the collar, and even more distracted by the quietly proud expression Atsumu has while looking at Osamu.

He also can’t help but tease when Atsumu pulls out some documents of his own to double the meeting for an assignment. His boss is equally amused, and considering she hired Sakusa based on ‘we need an accountant around here anyway’, it’s no surprise she doesn’t mind Atsumu somewhat mooching off of this.

“Can’t keep your nose out of anything, can you, Atsumu?” Sakusa bows to his boss when the meeting ends and starts to stack the papers on the table.

“You should be thanking me for a solid business deal, Omi-Omi.”

He should probably thank Atsumu for more than that; Sakusa’s come to see Atsumu as a bright spot in his busy days, which is exactly when the universe decides to throw it off course. Things get weird very suddenly when he joins Atsumu one day on his break during a brutal evening shift when the new semester first starts.

He takes the opportunity to sneak up on Atsumu who’s seated with his back facing him. Without meaning to, he glances at the laptop screen before sitting down; YouTube is open but covered by another window which has notes on it. Sakusa sets down the croissants and Atsumu jumps.

“Hey, Omi-kun.”

Sakusa sighs deeply as he sets up his Switch. “You mind if I play some Animal Crossing while you work? Customers have been so shitty even you’re better than they are, and nothing will calm me but the 8pm music.”

The sound of Atsumu’s laugh makes him smile underneath his mask.

“Such a sweet-talker, aren’t ya? I’m swooning over here,” Atsumu says, moving his stuff to make more room. “Can I watch ya play? The semester’s just started and if y’can believe it, I’m actually ahead.”

“I don’t believe it,” says Sakusa.

“Fucker.”

Sakusa is wiping down his controllers and gives one cloth to Atsumu. “Wipe down your earphones, mine are in the back room and I’m too lazy to get them.” Clearly, he’s upping the ante on his flirting to share earbuds. Sakusa nearly laughs at himself because he’s so bad at this.

They push their respective earphones in and Sakusa boots his Switch up.

“Have you seen my island before? You know the premise of Animal Crossing from the videos you watch, right? Let me show you around first.” Sakusa taps the B button to get through Isabelle’s intro, noting to himself to check the villager at the campsite after his shift.

“I styled my character after Link. There are some cool patterns I downloaded. Here’s my entrance; waterfalls are a bitch to make but nice to look at. I put my stores together with a café marketplace.”

Sakusa continues exploring his island and talks to his islanders, noticing Atsumu going silent. He’s about to ask what’s wrong when Atsumu jolts with an “Oh, _fuck_ ,” making Sakusa jump as well.

“Are you okay?” Atsumu looks startled and he doesn’t make eye contact with Sakusa.

“Yeah. Uh, I have to go.” Sakusa watches him throw his things into his bag haphazardly and expects Atsumu to elaborate. When he doesn’t, and looks like he actually is going to bolt out of the store, he locks his hand around Atsumu’s wrist.

“Atsumu, wait. What’s going on? Is everything alright?”

Sakusa feels more confused when Atsumu shakes his head no, and then yes.

“I gotta – I forgot – gotta go somewhere. Everything’s fine, I’ll see ya later, Omi-kun.”

Atsumu runs off before Sakusa can tell him that wasn’t convincing after all. He finishes his shift with a wrong feeling in his stomach, the earphones burning a hole in his pocket. Was it Animal Crossing? Sakusa himself?

He can’t contact Atsumu for more answers because they’re both idiots and actually haven’t exchanged numbers after this long.

Sakusa pulls out his phone – he does, however, have _Osamu_ as a contact.

He texts Osamu during class after he doesn’t see Atsumu for a few days when he’s usually in for a morning coffee or during the evening shift. It feels weird not to see Atsumu around.

Hey, is your brother okay? 

**Yeah why**

He grabbed all his stuff and left in a hurry last week.

He’s never done that before, did anything happen?

**nothing that i know of. Well I can hear him yelling into his pillow for like the tenth time this week**

**he thinks its muffled but it’s really not**

**What did he say**

He just said “oh fuck I gotta go somewhere bye” and ran away. 

He’s alive, right?

**Wow do u like my brother or smth**

Osamu.

**Ok ok he’s not dead I’m sure he’s just fine and made something too complicated in his brain**

**Why aren’t u texting him**

I gave him my number months ago when we met

I think he’s the one meant to text me.

**Lol ur right he just had it on the coffee cup.**

**Can u believe he saved that coffee cup**

Did he even wash it? That’s disgusting.

**Yeah he did**

**must mean he’s really got it bad for u lol**

**I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong with him tho**

What is it?

**Tell me first: do u wanna date my brother**

Sakusa snorts. Really.

I have class now.

**Oh my god**

**do not play dumb**

**u need to be the smarter one in the relationship if ur gonna date atsumu**

I’m not playing dumb. I really do have to go to one more class

**Have fun with that**

**this conversation is over until u tell me why ur so concerned**

Okay, so he thought Atsumu was the little shit out of the two of them, but it turns out Osamu’s not _outwardly_ shitty because Atsumu does enough of that for the both of them.

Can’t a friend be concerned?

**Wait, actually? I’m completely serious now**

**u just want to be friends right? It’s cool either way**

**I just wanna be clear before I let u know why Atsumu’s driving himself up the wall**

Sakusa should probably be honest with the twin of the person he’s interested in.

I did give him my number; it should be pretty clear I do want to date him 

**ha HA**

**Knew it**

**Ok so he’s been watching this youtube channel pretty religiously for the past few months that does study livestreams and plays animal crossing**

Sakusa’s eyes widen at his phone. He glances at the time; it’s Thursday, live stream day, and he finishes his class in one hour.

**Know anything about that, Mr. Kiyjax?**

**Here’s his number, I think he’s turned off his phone tho**

**Threw it under his bed and everything**

**loser**

Sakusa tries to dial a few times even though he’s in class. He gets an out of service message; Atsumu’s phone really is off.

His brain pieces it all together. So it _was_ Sakusa’s Animal Crossing video that Atsumu was watching. How long has Atsumu been following his channel? Does he know Sakusa is the one running it? If so, why didn’t he say anything? Sakusa doesn’t find it weird that Atsumu watches his channel; so does Yachi, and Akaashi watches the food related ones. Wait, Atsumu probably has a YouTube account if he’s subscribed and keeping up with Sakusa’s content. Which user is he, then, out of the ones he sees so often?

 _kumuquat_? _Inalockmir_? _Atyokun_? _ateamoon_?

And if he _didn’t_ know that Sakusa runs the _endomiphins_ channel, then that must be the reason why he ran off. Sakusa taps at his phone.

Osamu, is Atsumu home?

**Yeah we all are**

**He’s lying on the floor in my room**

Why your room?

**Idk he’s annoying**

**are u coming to get him**

**please say yes**

Yeah.

**Ugh finally lover boy here’s our apartment address**

**Just text me when u get here I wanna do a big reveal**

You two are exactly the same with the dramatics.

**Fuck u I’m the nice twin**

**Ur supposed to be nice to me future bro in law**

Debatable.

**U want my help or not lover boy**

Thanks for the address. I’ll be there after class.

He shoots a _I’m here_ when he’s outside of the apartment, and Osamu buzzes him in. Sakusa picks at his coat and sweater. They’re his normal clothes, but maybe he’s too dressed up?

“Hey,” Osamu says, a sly grin on his face. “Lemme go get him. It might take a minute or two.” Sakusa nods and waves through the open door at Hinata and Bokuto. Osamu leaves the door open and Sakusa leans against the doorframe, absentmindedly watching the Smash Melee video game while he can hear the twins bickering at each other in the other rooms.

He nearly jumps when Osamu reappears, and he hears Atsumu roar “OSAMU!”

Osamu rolls his eyes at Sakusa and turns back around to physically drag a really flustered Atsumu out of his room, backpack clutched to his chest to protect his heart.

Sakusa puts his phone away and ignores how his pulse picks up. “Hey, Atsumu.” Atsumu gulps.

“Hi? Whatcha doin’ here, Omi-kun?”

“You left without your earphones and an explanation last week,” Sakusa says, holding up said headphones. He steps backwards when Osamu shoves Atsumu out of the door and Hinata, Bokuto, and Osamu each give him a thumbs up before the door closes and locks.

Atsumu clearly hasn’t heard the door lock; he’s explaining himself, how he’s been watching Sakusa’s videos and livestreams and didn’t know Sakusa was behind the channel, how he was overwhelmed with attraction for his YouTube crush and barista crush being the same person.

Sakusa really tries not to laugh, but everything about this and them in general is ridiculous, so he bursts into laughter to the point where he’s tearing up. Atsumu’s cute and funny and they’ve been so _dumb._

“I’ve always read it as _endo_ -miphins because that’s how you read _endor_ -phins so it’s not like I’m stupid for not recognizing it – stop _laughing_ , Omi-kun, ‘m gonna _murder_ you.”

Sakusa wipes the tears from his eyes. “Thanks, but I knew already. Osamu told me earlier in the week and that’s why I’m here. It’s Thursday and the stream starts soon. We’re studying together. Let’s go.”

Atsumu is full on stuttering now, yelling through the door at Osamu for locking him out.

“Did the revelation of me being the person behind _endomiphins_ really break you?”

“I _confessed_ to you, Omi-kun, that’s what’s breaking me,” Atsumu whines, and Sakusa can’t help but blush at Atsumu addressing it so head-on. It makes him feel braver.

“You’re going to ignore my confession for the stream? I must’ve made a mistake in choosin’ you as my extremely hot, studious, disinfected, Animal Crossing gamer package of a man,” Atsumu continues, and Sakusa snorts at the title.

“The whole reason I’m here right now is that yes, me, your extremely hot, studious, disinfected, Animal Crossing gamer, is accepting that confession,” and Sakusa full on grasps Atsumu’s hand to hold it, his face falling into a glare because he’s trying not to freak out at the confession either.

Sakusa tugs and they fall into step. “We’re going to be late.”

Atsumu makes him stop with an expectant look on his face, and Sakusa clenches his fists, unconsciously tightening his grip on Atsumu’s hand.

“I like you too,” he says, and saying it out loud makes it easy for the rest of it to spill out. “I got a stupid amount of worried over you when you ran away last week and didn’t answer any of my texts or calls. I like you so much I went and texted _Osamu_ to find out what was wrong, okay? He gave me so much shit about it before he told me you were just wasting away in your room. It’s not weird to me that you like my stuff. Clearly not, since I’m making you stream with me.”

“I get front row seat, huh? As your boyfriend, does that include one man shows to _endomiphins_ ’ most effective ‘studying methods’?”

Sakusa can feel his ears going from pink to red. “I changed my mind. _I’m_ going to murder you in my apartment where no one will see.”

“Yes, they will, Omi-Omi, we’ll be streaming. You’d get banned from Youtube.” Atsumu has a pleased, triumphant expression, with a blush to match Sakusa’s.

Sakusa huffs. “It’d be worth it.”

When they get back to Sakusa’s apartment, he worries for a moment that this is the weirdest first date ever. Then again, they’ve been essentially dating this entire time, what with all the time spent at the Starbucks on his breaks. Sakusa tugs his hair out of his ponytail and sweeps it over one shoulder, unhooks his mask and tosses it onto the kitchen counter as they settle in. Atsumu is fidgeting; it must be the camera he’s not used to.

“Ready?” Sakusa is amused at the little nervous nod Atsumu gives him, and then looks at him with an eyebrow raised when Sakusa speaks out loud normally and Atsumu startles.

“Hey guys, Kiyjax here. I’m changing up the stream a little bit today by adding a friend.” Atsumu waves, and Sakusa is ready to move on until Atsumu’s suddenly holding up his notepad that as ‘BOYFRIEND’ scrawled across it.

Predictably, the chat erupts, and they fight to either keep the sign up or down until Sakusa relents.

“My boyfriend,” and his heart does a small thump because _yes_ , that’s real. “He doesn’t have a YouTube channel, but we’ve started the semester and it’s time to get back into a routine. I hope your holidays were relaxing. We’ll start the timer for a 50-10 pomodoro session now.”

Atsumu holds up his pens and notebooks like he’s a makeup YouTuber which makes Sakusa snicker. They hold a Q&A when they take their breaks, and Sakusa wills his hands not to sweat when Atsumu intertwines them as a part of his joke.

“Break’s over,” he says, unlacing them because he’s sure he can feel his pulse in his palms. “Last 50-minute session starts now.”

They clean up and get ready for bed because Sakusa wordlessly sets up the futon and just looks at Atsumu, who flops onto it with a sigh.

“Don’t plan to consummate our relationship tonight, Omi-Omi?”

Sakusa throws his pillow at him. “You have an 8am class and I start at 7 tomorrow morning, Atsumu.” Atsumu grumbles and they try to sleep; Sakusa remembers he hasn’t played Animal Crossing today, so he tries to hide under the blanket and play so the light doesn’t disturb Atsumu.

“Are ya playin’ Animal Crossing?”

“Yeah, didn’t get do my dailies today. Was too busy trying to track down someone.”

“Can I watch? The music helps me sleep.”

“You’re not going to run away again, are you?” Sakusa asks, wry. He sits up, turning his lamp on, and patting the space he’s made behind him.

The way Atsumu curls around him accompanied with a noise that's like a satisfied purr has Sakusa's hands twitching to not run his hand through his hair to pet him like a cat. 

Atsumu drops off into sleep quickly. He wasn’t lying at how the music helps him fall asleep. Watching him makes Sakusa sleepy, too, so he shuts off the game to shuffle down into Atsumu’s arms.

The next morning he barely remembers because his alarm blares at 6am and they’re stumbling out of bed to get ready. Atsumu at one point visibly and audibly sucks in a fortifying breath and grabs Sakusa’s hand to hold it on the way to work, and when Sakusa laughs out loud he gets a smack to his shoulder. They have to let go when they get to the Starbucks, and he sees Hinata, Osamu, and Bokuto already there.

“Get in line!” Hinata shouts.

“Just ‘cause you’re dating one of the baristas now doesn’t mean you get to cut!”

There are happy and sly smiles on the faces of his co-workers.

“Not now, fuck with me on break,” Sakusa says, tying up his hair.

“Just you _wait_ ,” says Suna, and they laugh.

He’s gotten through Atsumu’s group congratulating and teasing him when Atsumu himself steps up to the till.

“A tall flat white, hold the sugar, ‘cause you’re sweet enough for me.”

“Get out,” Sakusa says, and Atsumu’s bright smile makes this whole thing worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> title from [window](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z90WurQZMNo), off of the freshly released dedicated side b! when i heard this lyric and how it is related to the line "i keep a window for you, it's always open" from [want you in my room](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23888092), i had a deep desire to write sakusa's POV of the first fic in this series. please give dedicated and dedicated side b a listen if you're into feel-good, funky pop.
> 
> thank you for reading!


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